Tiny house has curves in all the right places

Canada's Structural Spaces is relatively new to the tiny house scene, but still brings plenty of experience to the table. Chad Smith lived in a tiny house for four years with his young family and has been designing furniture and buildings for 25 years. This all shows with the recently-completed Curved 260 Micro Home, which shoehorns a lot of home into just 260 sq ft (24 sq m), and uses high-quality materials meant to last.

The Curved 260 Micro Home weighs around 11,000 lb (4,990 kg) and sits on a custom trailer. It requires a wide-load permit for towing onto highways, ferries, and the like, and should be thought of more like a bespoke mobile home made with good quality materials, rather than an RV-type setup that you'd keep moving from spot to spot regularly.

The home measures 13.6 x 10.6 x 32 ft (4.1 x 3.2 x 9.8 m), including hitch, and stands out in a crowded scene of shed-like homes for its looks, being clad in cedar shingle siding and cedar trim. The attractive curved roof adds headroom and was created by using the natural curve of salvaged cedar log used in construction.

The interior of the two-story Curved 260 Micro Home looks sensibly arranged and spacious, and includes generous glazing to ensure ample natural light. The main living space has a wood-burning stove (there's also an electric heater), while the kitchenette sports propane burners and on-demand hot water. The bathroom features a toilet, sink and a double-head shower.

There's integrated storage in the staircase, which leads up to a small sleeping area with additional storage and enough room to fit a double bed.

The materials used are of a high quality for a home of its type and these include efficient Low-E windows, solid fir doors, and hardwood flooring. Insulation R-values are rated as R28 on the ceiling, and R20 and R14 on the floor and walls, respectively.

Though the home isn't currently outfitted to operate off-grid, Smith reports that it would be relatively trivial to make the changes and fit a solar or wind power kit.

Structural Spaces sees the Curved 260 Micro Home serving as a primary home, or additional guest quarters. It's currently up for sale and priced at CAD 90,000 (US$71,200).